People stunned by Jeremy Clarkson's incredibly casual reaction to losing control of car at 120mph
Published on Aug 13, 2025 at 4:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Aug 13, 2025 at 12:06 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Jeremy Clarkson once lost control of a BMW 1 Series in a Top Gear drag race against a VW Golf.
What left people stunned was Clarkson’s reaction, because he stayed fundamentally very calm.
He swore a bit the second he lost control, but he very quickly regained composure.
And his comment after the ‘crash’ was hilarious.
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How Jeremy Clarkson lost control of his BMW
In an episode of Top Gear from a while back, Jeremy Clarkson raced a BMW 1 Series against a VW Golf.
The track was very slippery that day, and the BMW 1 Series that he was driving was a rear-wheel drive car, which made it a bit more difficult to drive in that water, and that’s how Clarkson lost control.
At around 120MPH, Clarkson lost control of the car and spun.

Apart from the initial swearing, he remained quite calm.
And his comment was hilarious.
“See, the Golf won that [Top Gear drag race] because… I lost control. That’s what happened,” he said.
The reason why Top Gear ended
Top Gear ended twice, so to speak.
There were several ‘incidents’ that nearly killed the show, including the infamous Porsche 928 license plate episode.
Then, in 2015, Top Gear, as people knew it, came to an end after an incident involving Jeremy Clarkson and a producer.

Clarkson wasn’t technically fired (the BBC simply stated it ‘wouldn’t renew his contract‘), but he left the broadcaster along with Hammond and May to join Amazon Prime Video for the new series The Grand Tour.
Nearly a decade later, Top Gear ended – this time for good – after a serious car-related accident involving one of its new presenters.
And speaking of The Grand Tour, the show will continue to air, contrary to what people initially thought, with three new presenters.